House Stuff

House stuff is still pretty much dominating my world right now. Yesterday, I sent in the final paperwork on the New Mexico house, and also had a phone report from the inspector. We both really wish we had been able to be there while the inspector was there, but that just wasn't possible -- us being 17 hours away. He was a nice man, seemed awfully thorough, left both of us wondering how much of these repairs we should ask the seller to do before our closing. We drank some wine and went to bed. I think both of us needed the wine just to clear out the whirl in our heads.

Now, this morning floor installers are coming here to put in new flooring in the foyer, the master bathroom, and the guest bath. These were things I had lined out before we left on the trip to NM. I'm sort of wishing I had waited, but who knew we would find a place there we wanted to buy? The floors in this house have been the biggest bane to me anyway. The woman who lived here when it was built had hideous taste -- or maybe it was the man. I shouldn't assume anything. But everything in the house was pink, right down to the toilets, tubs, and shower stall. That's the only thing about buying someone else's house and trying to make it your own. We have slowly, over the last two years, tried to undo all the "pinkness." That's what this latest project has been about. Especially in the master bathroom.

We had a leak. Some of the Sheetrock was affected. I scrubbed the shower stall, replaced the caulking, and that seemed to take care of the leak. Then I had a new shower door installed, a clear one that might end up being a pain to keep clean, but it certainly looks nicer. The old one was improperly installed to begin with and had become lime-spotted and scaled. While we were gone on the trip, Daddy came over and fixed the broken Sheetrock. I noticed it after we were home. He hadn't said anything. He did a great job, now it just needs paint. Also, at some point, I suspect the last people who owned this house, replaced the original toilet seat with a white one, which makes the toilet look even worse, having a rose pink base and that ugly white lid. So before we left for NM, I had ordered a new, matching toilet seat in wild Irish rose -- that's the color of the pink toilet. But it will look much better once we put it on -- something we will do this evening after the new floor has been installed. We had a new light fixture put in when we moved here, so after today, that bathroom will be completely updated, or anyway, as much as I'm willing to update it at this point. I really should be using the jacuzzi in there more often, if for no other reason than to keep it running.

Aahhhh! Big breath. What I really want to be doing is working on the house in NM. Our closing date can't come soon enough for either of us. It's like being in limbo. One thing, though, we are having very nice weather in Texas. Cool mornings, low humidity. It's been Fall-ish all week. I went out late yesterday evening and sprayed Round-up up and down the driveway. Because of all the rain, little weed shoots were starting to come up through the new gravel. I also sprayed down the garden area, which my SO had already mowed earlier this week. I used 3 gallons of the herbicide and could've used 3 more. My back and shoulders were aching form lugging around the backpack sprayer, so I got a rub-down last night -- much needed. He's actually quite good at that. I told him he might have missed his calling. I also put out a ton of fire ant bait. They have taken over, and it's hard to do much outside without running into a few. They make big blisters on me!

Mosquitoes are horrible out there right now, too. Ten inches of rain will do that. I've gone around emptying any vessel holding stale water -- sorry birds, but your baths will have to happen elsewhere -- but I can't do anything about the stock tank across the fence. It's full -- the fullest I've seen it since we've lived here. I enjoy working outside, but only when I don't have other things pressing me, which I have had all week. Then it become drudgery. And let's face it, neither of us is getting younger. The time will come, and very soon, when the upkeep on this place will be more work than we want to do. We're almost there already.

And yet, I do still love it here. We are nicely isolated, in our own little enclave, but for some reason, I don't seem to get any writing work done here. I think there are too many things to distract me from it, and I do suddenly want to write again. I guess just that should be a good thing, I haven't felt that way in such a long time. I simply have to find a way to work it in. What  I need are a few 36-hour days.

Onward ....